The National Hotel epidemic was a mysterious sickness that began to afflict persons who stayed at the National Hotel in Washington, DC, in early January 1857.[1] At the time, the hotel was the largest in the city.[2] By some accounts, as many as 400 people became sick, and nearly three dozen died.[3]
Although there was speculation of an attempt to poison hotel guests, that theory was not proven.[4] The outbreak affected mostly patrons of the hotel's dining room but not those who frequented the bar.[5] It began to spread more noticeably by mid-January 1857.[1] New cases of the illness began to decrease in number by the end of January 1857 and continued to abate until mid-February. When the numbers of guests increased for the presidential inauguration of March 4, 1857, the sickness returned again forcefully.[1]
In the 21st century, medical experts attribute the outbreak to "dysentery because of the hotel’s primitive sewage system."[6]
disease
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).